San Clemente Knocks Off Buena, 55-39

The only thing more surprising than the score of San Clemente’s upset of Ventura Buena on Tuesday was the margin of victory.

The Tritons, who lost eight games during the regular season and had the most difficult path to the Southern Section Division I-A finals, stunned fourth-seeded Buena, 55-39, in a semifinal game at Capistrano Valley High.

San Clemente (23-8) will play for the section championship Friday or Saturday at the Pyramid in Long Beach. The Tritons will play the winner of tonight’s semifinal between Moreno Valley and Mater Dei.

Buena (25-4), which has been to 13 title games and won championships two of the last three seasons, was beaten by eventual champion Marina in last year’s semifinals.

“It’s unexplainable,” said San Clemente’s Colleen Turnbull, who scored 20 points, 15 in the second half. “At the beginning of the season, I never thought we could be here.”

It would have been tough to think that two weeks ago, too. But San Clemente beat Troy, the section’s only unbeaten large school team; Riverside North, the top-seeded team; and Buena, one of the most successful programs in the state.

And the Tritons did it easily, forcing 24 turnovers and, in the third quarter, holding Buena to zero field goals to extend its 23-14 halftime lead to 41-26.

“They played pretty tough defense and really worked for position,” said Buena’s 6-foot-2 freshman center, Courtney LaVere, whose five points were eight under her average. “They were really tough, really aggressive.”

And really quick, using it to prevent Buena from exploiting its height advantage. Kelly Greathouse, Buena’s 6-2 sophomore center, scored 15, but 10 came in an inconsequential fourth quarter. The Bulldogs went into the fourth trailing by 15, and had not yet scored more than 12 in any of the first three quarters against a defense that was sparked by Whitney Jones (11 points, two steals) and Cassie Kruger (four points, four steals).

Twenty-one of Buena’s 39 points came from the free-throw line (21 of 28).

“I felt we would have a lot of trouble in the post,” said Turnbull, who has a team-high seven rebounds.

But that trouble hardly surfaced. Greathouse managed only one shot in the first half and finished three for six from the field; LaVere made her first two shots, and finished two for six.

“We wanted to get out on the wings so that pass [to the post] was a long pass,” Mulligan said. “We executed really well.

“We’re really coming around right now defensively.”